On the Fields of Loneliness

Memoirs of a Jew born in 1930 in Brzeżany (eastern Galicia). Notes that the Soviet occupation of his town in 1939-41 did not halt antisemitism, but rather reinforced it. Under German occupation, Altman's father was killed on Yom Kippur of 1941. With his mother and sisters, he attempted to leave Brzeżany and hide with non-Jews; but his three sisters were killed, and he and his mother returned to the Brzeżany ghetto. After the last roundup in June 1943, during which he hid in a bunker prepared by relatives, Altman left the town. He lived in a small family camp in the forest, but after a Nazi raid, he, his cousin and her fiancé left the camp and were hidden and helped by various Polish and Ukrainian peasants. In 1944 they were liberated by the Soviets. After the war, Altman settled in the USA.